After a summer full of heavy fighting and high casualties, many Canadians have started questioning our military presence in Afghanistan. Catering to these concerns, NDP leader Jack Layton wants a total withdrawal of Canadian troops from Afghanistan by Febuary 2007, claming that it is “not the right mission for Canada.” Rather than just suggesting a review of NATO strategy, Layton hopes to profit politically by being the first Canadian politician to oppose the entire operation.
This appeal to anti-war party members may help him at the upcoming NDP policy convention in Quebec City, but Canadians should think twice before supporting Layton’s calls for retreat.
The debate over whether we should remove the Taliban from power is over. We did. The only “right mission” at this point is to clean up the mess. Layton can go on as much as he likes about how the neo-conservative agenda doesn’t work and how Canada shouldn’t follow “the defence policy prescriptions of the Bush administration.” Most Canadians would agree with him. But this doesn’t change the fact that we violated the sovereignty of another country and that our international credibility requires us to leave Afghanistan in a positive state. Like the Americans in Iraq, whether one agrees with the invasion premise or not, we have a responsibility to protect the populace until they can manage on their own.
That is not to say that the current approach is perfect. Layton is right to point out that rebuilding assistance is lacking. More effort is required to prevent needless civilian deaths that are so effectively used by the Taliban as propaganda to recruit new guerillas. Also, using NATO troops to destroy poppy fields is quickly turning into an example of “mission creep” that does nothing but breed contempt for our presence. Despite international concerns surrounding record opium harvests, drug enforcement should only become a priority once the rural areas have been secured. Even then, enforcement should be administered primarily by the Afghan government.
Although our mission is not without its faults, these issues can and should be addressed within the context of the current campaign. A hasty withdrawal of NATO troops would be disastrous. General Abdul Rahim Wardak, the Afghan defence minister, estimates that without a foreign military presence the national army would need 150,000 to 200,000 members in order to effectively patrol its borders and fight the Taliban. At this point the entire Afghan forces number just over 30,000 soldiers, barely enough to secure the major cities. Even the coalition forces are being stretched thin.
We have a moral duty to the Afghan people to provide them with security. We also have a duty to the international community to ensure that Afghanistan doesn’t re-emerge as the terrorist haven it once was. Unfortunately, these duties require us to partake in armed conflict. A strategy that doesn’t recognize this reality is doomed to fail.
Any successful mission requires military resolve and we shouldn’t let a few casualties send us running home. What would our fallen soldiers think if they found out that they had sacrificed their lives for nothing? Layton should spend less time appealing to his voters and more time thinking about what is best for the country that we, by default, have promised to protect.
